Higher Education Webinars

The World View

A hot new topic for gossip in British university common rooms emerged over the weekend of 4/5 June with news of the launch of the “New College of the Humanities” (www.nchum.org), to be located in Bloomsbury, the home of many of the institutions that comprise the University of London.

I was one of those who had been closely watching the global reaction to the establishment of the “Obiang Chair” that would provide cash to UNESCO and name a science prize after President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the president of Equatorial Guinea for the past 30 years.

The debate about agents sure has occupied a lot of space in the professional press of late! Mitch Leventhal, Vice Chancellor for Global Affair for the State University of New York, continues to insist that his organization, AIRC, can certify virtue but the National Association for College Admissions Counseling (NACAC) isn’t buying it.

Ask an Argentine scholar about the University of Buenos Aires and there is usually a long pause. And maybe a deep breath. And then everyone has a lot to say. The University of Buenos Aires (or UBA is it is usually called) is one of the oldest universities in Argentina. With more than 300,000 students enrolled, it is also one of the largest universities in the hemisphere, comparable only to the UNAM in Mexico. The UBA is public, tuition free and enrolls any high school graduate wishing to pursue a university degree.

At a conference in Riyadh last month we were privileged to meet senior officials at the Ministry of Higher Education and hear and witness the extraordinary advances underway. It is difficult not to be dazzled by Saudi Arabia’s current investment in higher education.

The Australian government, still the major funding agent of higher education, (although much less so than was the case 20 years ago) has an ambitious agenda. The government wants to raise the proportion of Australians with at least a first degree from the current ratio of around 32% (for those aged between 25 and 34 years) to 40% by 2025. Part of a wider agenda is to widen access to higher education for marginalised socio-economic groups, including the poor, rural and remote populations, and indigenous students.

In recent months there have been reports from several countries hinting at a trend towards tightening up visa requirements for international students. The notable current examples are Australia and in April, the UK announced the implementation of new restrictions. The United States implemented dramatically new visa restrictions after 9/11 but has since loosened them significantly. Are these restrictions unfair to students or damaging to higher education? In a word, no.